For more than 10 years I have made my living as an auto-industry analyst. If you ask people who know me well, they would claim I have been doing auto analysis for 35 years.

As a kid, I would attend auto shows, go to car meets and pore through just about any automotive publication I could get my hands on. I reviewed the specs over and over, until I was able to recite them back at a moment's notice. When I was finished reading the publication, I kept it to review and examine the pictures. Each time, something about the vehicle looked different or I found something new.

What really peeves me, as an industry analyst, are people who draw conclusions and later look for data to support them. Data that supports a theory is used, data that doesn't is pushed aside. Many agenda-driven people tend to see the world as they would like to see it or as they believe it should be, as opposed to what it actually is.

How many more times do we need to listen to the New York media and Washington politicians say "If only we had a Prius or a small car ..." or "Of course the Detroit Three would not be in the position they are in now if they just had small, fuel-efficient vehicles?" Hybrids would be better and electric would be orgasmic. After all, that is what the market wants and the Detroit Three refuse to provide vehicles that meet these overwhelming wants.

Merkle

As an industry analyst tracking data and market trends, I am trying (everyone wants a Prius) to stay away from agenda-driven politics. What is it that the market really wants? Yes, some want a Prius, but I would argue that the market wants many other things in a new vehicle too. To constantly highlight the Toyota Prius or a small car such as the Mini Cooper as success is just wrong and inaccurate.

I have been to Manhattan. If I lived on that island of nine million people, I too would have the smallest vehicle possible or no vehicle at all. It is congested and dirty. So, while many of these vehicles hailed as success are what New Yorkers might want or need, the guy out in Kansas on his ranch under a large blue sky has a much different perspective and requirements. One shoe does not fit all feet.

Should it surprise anyone that Washington and New York don't recognize the all-new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro and its success? Is it a hybrid? No. Is it an electric vehicle? No. Does it get 40 miles to the gallon on the highway or even 35? Not even close.

In all fairness the V6 variant gets 18 city/29 highway, but, if history is any indicator, at least half of the 2010 Camaros sold will be with the 6.2 liter V8, which is 16 city/25 highway. The question is will anybody buy this car? You bet.

Demand for the 2010 Camaro (everyone wants a Prius) is outstripping supply right now, and dealers are charging over invoice while others are left with no Camaros in stock. Obviously, this bit of data again doesn't support the desired conclusions.
Camaro sales for the month of June totaled 9.3 thousand units, with only 14 days of inventory on hand. The industry norm is 60 days.

Sales of the Camaro will only be limited to GM's ability to produce them in the first year. While I realize the Camaro sales will peak quickly and won't be sustained at these volumes forever, its overwhelming success tells us something:

• Perhaps the U.S. economy isn't in quite the depression everyone is talking about. After all, the 2010 Camaro is, in most cases, a third-car purchase.

• The market (everyone wants a Prius) likes variety and choice.

• Perhaps vehicle design, and more importantly for the Detroit Three, great American design trumps in the mind of the consumer. Imagine that. Imagine that a consumer would consider eight cylinders over four or gas over electric hybrid.

Perhaps there is more to this product development and automotive business than anyone thought. Narrowing one's focus to building small or electric vehicles is just as much of a mistake as GM and Chrysler focusing entirely on pickups and large SUVs. It would just be a strategy mistake in the opposite direction.

Today's consumer and competitive landscape requires product diversity, realizing that consumers are different in where they live, age, size and lifestyle requirements. Political correctness and environmental dogma may not allow GM and Chrysler the ability to respond appropriately to the market needs, leaving other automakers -- Hyundai, Honda, Ford, and Toyota -- to provide a better match between product and consumer needs.

Erich Merkle is president of Autoconomy.com, based in Grand Rapids, and an internationally recognized auto analyst. He writes exclusively for Business Review.